It’s the Holiday Concert Season.

LAST weekend’s blizzard was too early to ensure a White Christmas. But we know the season is upon us and that Irish music is a wonderful way to share its joy. 

Here are some concert suggestions from New England, where they received enough snow to last until December 25.

Up Boston way Brian O’Donovan, the popular host of the WGBH weekly radio program “A Celtic Sojourn,” hosts a Christmas show at the Somerville Theatre (55 Davis Square near the Burren Pub) on Saturday, December 13 at 8 p.m. 

Not surprisingly, the affable Corkman, whose voice exudes warmth and welcome on the radio, hopes to transfer to the stage “an evening in a country cottage.” The concert is dubbed “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn.” It will feature Cherish the Ladies, Robbie O’Connell and his band, and a Celtic a cappella group Navan, which is based in Wisconsin. 

This concert is a sure sell-out but listeners needn’t be disappointed if they can’t score a ducat because O’Donovan has dipped into his well-stocked larder to produce Comfort and Joy: A Christmas Celtic Sojourn, Vol. 2, which prominently features Cherish, Maddy Prior and Robbie O’Connell. 

In addition, his show on December 20 will focus on the new recording with his usual comfy “living room” treatment that will have you reaching for the eggnog and in full wassail mode. All the relevant details can be found at www.wgbh.org/celtic as well as an audio link to the program available worldwide on NPR each week on Saturdays from noon until 3 p.m. live or archived.

Further west in Massachusetts on December 14 come the Boys of the Lough to the Regent Theatre (www.regenttheatre.com/events/lough) in Arlington (7 Medford Street, call 781-862-7837 for details) for a 3 p.m. concert. Over 30 years on the road, the Boys of the Lough have welcomed Seamus Begley into the current mix led by Cathal McConnell and Dave Richardson. They just appeared on the Prairie Home Companion from Town Hall in New York City. They return to the New York area on Thursday, December 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Brookdale Community College Performing Arts Center (call 732-224-2411 or visit www.brookdale.cc.

nj.us) near Red Bank, New Jersey. You can expect another Yuletide tour d’horizon from Ireland, Scotland and Northumberland in the current show.

Still in Massachusetts, you can also take in one of the finer harpers in Aine Minogue (www.minogue.

com), performing a Winter Solstice concert at the Club Passim (call 617-492-7679), Cambridge’s legendary home for folk music in Harvard Square. Tipperary born-Minogue will perform on harp and vocals on December 21 at 8 p.m. in a show that will be steeped in Celtic mysticism, based on her musical and poetic explorations through a life-long journey.

Also around Harvard Yard, the 107 year-old Celtic Studies Program at Harvard University recognized what many of us in the Irish music scene have known for decades in honoring Galwegian Larry Reynolds for the “enormous contribution (he) has made to Irish culture in Boston over the past fifty years.” 

He will be feted December 10 at 7 p.m. along with his wife Phyllis in an exclusive black-tie affair at Loeb House on the Cambridge campus that puts him in the exclusive company of people like Poet Seamus Heaney and Reynold’s long time pal William Bulger, who graduated from Harvard and headed up the University of Massachusetts until earlier this year. 

The native of Ahascragh outside of Ballinasloe in East Galway is a galvanizing fiddler player who leads the largest Comhaltas branch in North America. Coincidentally, it also operates a local music school there at Harvard. Larry and his son Sean also do a weekly CCE traditional music radio program that is streamed live on Saturdays from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. on www.wntn.com.

Congratulations on another well-earned plaudit for Larry Reynolds and his family.

CHRISTMAS PICK: Many things arrive in my mailbox referring to Riverdance to catch my attention by assuring an artist’s quality or validity. 

It is easy to be jaded about the overexposed show that continues to tour and take the world by storm but the reality is that it has launched many magnificent performers onto a greater stage.

One such individual is Katie McMahon, who forwarded a copy of her latest recording entitled Celtic Christmas. The soprano, who indeed was one of the more arresting solo voices with the Riverdance ensemble, and Anuna, have produced a gem. 

Now based in Minneapolis-St. Paul where she met and married an American, the classically trained vocalist and harpist from Dublin includes many of the familiar Christmas carols, plus some tasteful additions that will keep this recording at the top of your stack of Christmas music for seasons to come. You can find it at Borders Bookshops or seek out her webpage at www.katiemcmahon.com. 

Contact at fromthehob@aol.com.